Hand propelling device for sewing-machines



(No Model.)

K. P. BEAIRD. HANDPROPELLING DEVICE FOR SEWING MACHINES.

N0. 380,973. Patented Apr. 10, 1888.

I 1 IVENTOR:

BY M ATTORNEYS.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

KATE PALMER BEAIRD, OE TYLER, TEXAS.

HAND PROPELLING DEVICE FOR SEWING MACHlNES.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 380,973, dated April 10, 1888.

Application filed November 22, 1887. Serial No. 255,860. (No model.)

To aZZ whom it may concern.-

Be it known that I, KATE PALMER BEAIRD, of Tyler, in the county of Smith and State of Texas, have invented a new and useful Im; provement in Hand Propelling Devices for Sewing-Machines, of which the following is a specification.

The object of my invention is to provide a propelling device for sewing-machines and similar treadle-power machines which shall dispense with the treadle-action and the injurious strain which its use imposes upon delicate females.

It consists in a rod jointed to the fly-wheel after the manner of a pitman, but which, instead of connecting with a treadle, is fashioned into a handle, which extends obliquely upward toward the operator, and is combined with and held in place by a guide-frame made in the form of a pendent metal loop with flanged ends and screw-holes, whereby it may be attached to the frame-work of the machine, as will be hereinafter fully described.

Figure l is an end elevation of the sewingmachine table and fly-wheel with my invention applied thereto. Fig. 2 is an enlarged detail view of the handle-rod, and Fig. 8 is a detail view of its guide.

B is the handle-rod,which is fashioned somewhatafter the manner of awalking-cane. The lower end of it is bored transversely to receive the screw D, which secures it to the fly-wheel F of the machine at the same point and in the same manner that the ordinary pitman is secured. The lower portion of the rod B is also slitted longitudinally from its end to a point above the bearing for screw D, and the slitted ends are clamped together to take up wear or looseness at screw D by means of a clampscrew, A. To the lower surface of the machinetable Gis fastened, by screws, a pendent loop-shaped guide-frame, 0, through which the rod B passes and in which it plays.

To operate this driving mechanism the handle of the rod is grasped and an endwise reciprocation is given it straight from the shoulder without involving any strain upon the tired feet, the delicate muscles of the stomach, and without any injurious motion of the spine.

This driving mechanism is very cheap and simple, and as the heavy treadle is not used the power to rock it is saved, and the machine is made lighter-running and also more nearly noiseless. It is also applicable to all sewingmachines without material alteration. of or injury to the same. I

I am aware that handled levers have been applied to sewing-machines heretofore, so as to Work them by hand, and I therefore only claim my special construction and arrangement of parts, in which the handled rod B is combined with a pendent loop-shaped guide, 0, which is formed of metal with flanged ends perforated for screws, whereby the guide may be attached directly to the under side of the table of any machine without cutting the table or otherwise defacing the same. WVith these devices, also, the inclination of the handle-rod is such that it does not interfere with the material nor affect the line of feed.

Having thus described my invention, what KATE PALMER BEAIRD.

Witnesses T. B. FLOORE, JNo. H. BONNER. 

